Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu was caught in an embarrassing spot yesterday when he was seen reading a newspaper while a senior cabinet colleague was winding up the debate in the Sarawak legislative assembly.

Chong Chieng Jen (DAP-Kota Sentosa) rose to draw the House's attention to Article 37(c) of the Standing Orders disallowing any member from reading newspapers in the chamber unless he is referring to sections of his speech.

Jabu was reading a newspaper while another Deputy Chief Minister Dr George Chan was winding up the debate on matters raised under the Ministry of Industrial Development.

The DAP rep said to do so was being disrespectful and that Jabu should know it.

Jabu, clearly unhappy that he was caught off guard, then stood up tp explain that he was merely reading what had been reported on the assembly proceedings.

Cool Taib

Speaker Awang Asfia Awang Nassar made no ruling against Jabu, who is also Layar state assemblyperson.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud's winding-up speech yesterday afternoon was an anti-climax after he had been widely expected to go on the offensive after losing his top last week when Chong raised questions about the chief minister's family business interests, notably in the public-listed CMS Bhd.

Unlike last week when he totally lost his composure and challenged Chong to go outside and repeat his allegations against members of his family, this time Taib was acting more like a true statesman and made no mention of the issue, according to a senior journalist present.